Hello everyone, i've been reading your stickies and recipe threads with amazement and awe! I've been doing CD for 12wks now and have lost 3 stone. However, i've been back in training at the gym for 3wks now and am really not enjoying just having shakes and chicken salad to live on, just does not fill me up now i'm back at the gym. I would like to lose another 2/3 stone, depending how i feel when i get down there.

Please could you let me know what the average losses are on Atkins? Also, would i need to start on the induction phase from moving over from CD? Or phase two?

I think i'll need to get a book to study it some more. I saw the bars/shakes in tesco the other day and just assumed you'd have a bar/shake for breakfast and lunch then an atkins meal for tea? I'm now realising i must be way off the mark there.. Seems such a lot of food can be eaten doing Atkins so i think i'll be better off doing it whilst i'm training?

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hi Claire, i've recently done the same, coming from cd to atkins, and started in on the induction phase, as i figured that would be the best place to start. As you say, you can eat far more, and still limit your carb intake to 20 grams a day maximum, most of which are from salad veg and leafy green veg. (have a look at the stickies at the top of the page for more good info)
i had a 1lb loss in my first week, and altho it doesn't seem a lot in comparison to being on cd, i figure my body will need to adjust from having 4-500 cals a day to increasing this significantly. The beauty is you don't particulary have to count the calories, as long as you're eating accepted foods. Have a look on the 'what's everyone eating today' thread for more ideas, but bear in mind people are at different levels of the plan.
good luck if you decide to do it.

Ooo thanks for the reply Mick, nice to hear from someone who's actually made the move over, did it take you a while to decide?

It all sounds sooo confusing to me at the moment.. what are you typically eating on induction phase then? is that two weeks? Thing is i don't want to give up my training at the gym now that i've plucked up the courage to start back and i'm also improving quite well with my running (which i'm rubbish at!) so i'm hoping that moving over and having more cals will help me? So is it basically limit carbs to 20g a day and then eat however much off the allowed foods list you need?

i'd done the atkins and cambridge in the past, and altho i found the cambridge ok, it did get boring, like you say, only having a bit of chicken salad to go with my shakes lol, so i decided to give atkins another go, being a lover of meat and fish and veg of all kinds, purely because of the variety available.

what you said is pretty much right, i have brekkie around 7am (normally bacon, eggs and/or low carb sossies, for dinner around 12ish, i nip to asda for some chicken off the rotisserie, or bring a cooked pork chop or something similar (you get used to the strange looks lol) and for tea, prawn salad, white fish, or steak and mushrooms. I don't do cheese or butter or cream, but that's only cos i can't stand them, not cos they are a no no.
i've just started back at the gym too, and im hoping this will start to help me burn fat, plus i walk to work and back each day, a total of four miles.
only change is water intake - when i ate hardly anything oncd, i was on 6 litres per day, and now i'm down to around 4, but i plan to stay on induction for longer than 2 weeks, or until i'm happy to move up a level. you can tailor it to meet your own needs really, within the accepted foods.

I didnt realise before reading this forum the amount of salad/veg you are allowed. This was the only reason i'd not tried Atkins before. If i can have salad and vegs with the meats then i think i would get on much better. Does Atkins work out any cheaper for you than CD? I am finding CD quite expensive at £40-50 a week when only seeing a 1lb loss each week at the moment due to training. Part of me says stop training and just lose the weight first but i need to get fitter and stronger as i have personal safety training next month which is very intense and don't want to struggle doing it. Thank you for your help and advice Mick, i really appreciate it! x

I would strongly recommend reading Dr Atkins' book if you are thinking of starting the plan. It may seem like a pain in the a*** to read the whole thing but it really does help you get your head round the diet, which can seem so counter-intuitive at first. Jim's sticky is a good starting off point but I found reading the whole thing really useful for understanding how the diet works, and why previous low fat diets *didn't* work for me, as well as setting my mind at ease about cholesterol levels and eating fatty foods which we are always told is so very very bad for us...

As to your training, I found my energy levels massively increased when I first started the Atkins plan. And they do say that a high protein diet is good for building muscle so you will find exercise gets easier as you tone up instead of wasting away - also, once you've built some muscle your metabolism will increase as muscle tissue burns more energy. So it's allll good!

Thank you for your replies Lady Marmalade and Laura C.. really appreciate the time taken to answer some q's

Well i think i've pretty much decided to at least give it a go. I'm meant to be having my wi with the cdc tmoz so not too sure whether or not to go. I have a few shakes etc that i would like to use up rather than waste so i'm hoping they'll be ok alongside starting Atkins? To be able to eat something other than shakes bars and chicken salad would be a dream come true and to also know i'll be ok at the gym now is great as i would hate to give it up now i've made the move to start back there.

2lb's a week would be a nice loss, i'm only losing about 1.5lb's ish on 3 shakes and a chicken salad on cd atm. More than a little disheartening!

I've just been to asda but they didn't have any books so i'll go to waterstones tmoz and read up more. However, i have got a beef steak for tea along with garlic butter to cook some mushrooms in to have on top and a green salad alongside.. Would this kind of meal be acceptable?? Just dying for normal food again now rather than chicken salad!! Hoping it will see me thru till i can get a book tmoz. Have also got bacon, eggs and cheese in, was hoping to do omelete for breakfast if ok??

Kind regards and many thanks again You may be seeing more of me on the Atkins forum if these first few days go well..

Claire - just a thought but try your local library too for the book that way you have a free at home copy.

If you want to buy it, definitely look at Amazon or green metropolis.co.uk

I must say that the perception of the lack of veggies on Atkins did/does my box in when people say
"I did that Atkins, and ate steak and eggs 3 times a day and looked ill" "Oh, did you eat your veggies?"
"No you're no allowed veggies on that Atkins"
"Yes you are, its essential"
"naw youre no, its all meat and eggs and cheese"
Rage

. Even though I am on CD, I liked Atkins, I just wanted quicker losses, but I did have a grand time eating a huge variety of foods.

Yes you're right, the carb content is quite high on the cd products, my bars are about 14g each! Wouldn't leave me much left for the rest of the day would it..

Really enjoyed the steak i've just had, first time for having beef in 3months! Defo going to get a book tmoz and have a read through. Not sure whether or not to go to my wi with cdc or not.. may tell him i have to work and go next week to see if a week on atkins has made any difference. Have had two cd shakes today and then just the steak, garlic butter, mushrooms and green salad.. Does that mean i've had my lot for the day now?

Ooo, thanks for that post Ali Shall get that one then.. Do you know what the recipe books are like too? Be good to have some recipes/ideas to have a go at.. This is going to take a while to get used to being able to eat all the things you were previously told were 'naughty'.. Just soooo nervous and scared about putting on weight again after losing it.

I wouldn't bother buying any of the recipe books, for now any way, there are tons of recipes on their website Atkins Recipes - Course and on here, look in the stickies at the top of the forum, there are always ideas on the "what we are eating today thread", which most of us post on, and if you want to make something and not sure how to, someone on here is bound to know.

No milk, you can have cream, double is best.
I use light unsweetened soya milk which is very low, but I don't think you are supposed to have it on induction, not sure, it is just soya after all, not dairy, but it isn't on the list.
There is someone about most of the time if you have questions.
Good luck, and enjoy the nosh, LOL!

Just thought i'd give you all a quick update on how my first day went. Had a 3 egg, bacon, mushroom and cheese omlette for dinner yesterday, struggled to eat half of it which i'm sure is due to being on cd for the last 3 months. So rather than force it down my neck as i would have done before starting to diet i put it in a tub and then ate the rest cold for tea at work. Then also had a chicken salad using chicken breast, lettuce, cucumber and a small amount of dressing. This again i struggled to eat though i'm not sure whether i'm coming down with something or not, feel a bit under the weather. So it could be either that or just not used to eating food! Amazon have dispatched my book so looking forward to reading up and knowing what i can have properly. I'm hoping yesterdays plan was ok? Thinking of doing the same today..

Just seen that you were in the army jim! What did you do? Your pics are such an inspiration too I'm ex raf, left last sept after 7yrs, work for the police now and loving it though always in work so it seems lol

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